Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has said the present regime has declared party leaders above 75 as “brain dead”. Taking a dig at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for neglecting party veterans, Sinha said that these BJP leaders were declared brain dead when the party came to power last year.
“All those who are above the age of 75 were declared brain dead on May 26, 2014,” the octogenarian leader, who himself was sidelined and denied a party ticket at the last hustings, said at an industry meet on Wednesday.
Sinha, who was finance minister in the Vajpayee government, was answering a question on the difference between the previous Manmohan Singh government and the Narendra Modi regime, and what has the incumbent government learnt from its predecessors.
Sinha, whose son Jayant is a junior finance minister, later jokingly referred to himself also as among those “brain dead”.
His comment comes days after another veteran, LK Advani, raised fears of a repeat of the 1975 Emergency, saying he “did not see any sign in our polity that assures me, any outstanding aspect of leadership.” The remarks in an interview to The Indian Express were interpreted by rival parties as a swipe at PM Modi.
Leaders like Advani, Sinha and Murli Manohar Joshi were not given any post and taken away from decision-making in a party rejig months after it took power.
Sinha also took a jibe at the government’s flagship ‘Make in India’ campaign, saying energies should be first focused on making the country a better place and all the other things will fall in place.
“Make India’ and ‘make in India’ will follow,” he said.
Without mentioning the ongoing ‘Lalit Modi’ controversy, Sinha said there is a need for the government to act proactively and ensure that the upcoming Parliament session does important business.
The government should reach out to the Opposition and sit down with them to ensure that the session does not get washed out, he said.
Government has a heavy legislative agenda including the new land and GST bills to get passed, which are being stiffly opposed by the Opposition. The monsoon session will begin from 21 July.
(With PTI Inputs)